Over the course of the last few days, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to a ton of producers, play a zillion games, and witness a million more previews.  After a while, one begins to notice certain attitudes from the developers that actually provide a ton of information about their products without much being said.

Games you know that will sell well to the public, but have poor demonstrations, naturally lessen the enthusiasm.  On the other hand, games you may not know anything about suddenly pop-up on the public’s Christmas list due to their solid presentations.  And I’ll be the first to admit, Senior Producer Greg Hounsom sold me on the game.

While it’s impossible for me to know how Brink will do once it’s released, it is a game that instantly went from invisible to a massive fleet on my radar. Read more… »

I feel bad for Nintendo. Their press conference had an abysmal display of the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. They couldn’t get anything to work correctly, and the Internet ate them alive for it.

I took it upon myself to determine whether or not their debacle on stage was legitimate interference, or poor design. I’m happy to report that LoZ: SS isn’t only one of the best looking games on the Wii, but it works perfectly.

Now, my childhood dream of controlling sword and shield independently is coming closer to fruition. Read more… »

I was a pretty big fan of Killzone 2, so when I found out I could get my hands on Killzone 3 at E3 and try out the new jetpack gameplay, I was stoked.  Being a big supporter of Sony’s push for 3D content, I was also excited to try out the 3D version of the game.

Well, I’ve now finished my playthrough of the jetpack demo, and I’m here to tell you that Killzone fans have a whole lot to be excited about.  People who think that 3D is the next big fad might be a little disappointed though.  For my full impressions of the game, hit the jump. Read more… »

When Q Entertainment’s Ninety Nine Nights debuted in 2006, it was met with a decidedly lukewarm reception. A frenetic hack-and-slash that borrowed perhaps a little too liberally from mainstays in the genre like Kingdom Under Fire and Dynasty Warriors, the game suffered from maladies as varied as camera issues, collision detection quirks, and utterly unforgiving gaps between checkpoints.

With Ninety Nine Nights II playable on the E3’10 show floor, it’s understandable that the developers would want to put an enthusiastic and optimistic face on the latest iteration in their franchise. With boasts of deep strategic depth and an increased number of enemies to combat on screen ringing in my ears, I nervously picked up the controller for some play time with the game, wondering if I had what it took to defeat one million troops. Wow.

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Scribblenauts was one of the most anticipated Nintendo DS titles last year after having an impressive showing at E3 2009. The game was then released, and disappointment sunk in. The best adjective to describe it: mediocre.

Mediocrity is not necessarily a bad thing, but it has a much more sour taste in the case of Scribblenauts because of the huge amount of potential that was sitting at the tip of our styluses. Unfortunately, the controls were enough to make gamers put it down and not think twice about it. This time around, Super Scribblenauts not only resolves the control issues, but it also adds a new, intriguing element to the game: adjectives. Read more… »

I gotta be honest and admit that when Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was first announced, I was extremely skeptical.  I mean there hasn’t been a good sonic game in over a decade.  Am I really supposed to believe that all of a sudden Sega has found that special spark again?

After playing the hands-on demo at E3, I am now a converted believer.  Sonic has truly gotten back to his roots, with a game that is sure to make all the old school fans of the series happy again.  To find out why I am so pleased, hit the jump. Read more… »

Portal is probably the single greatest gaming sucker punch of the last 10 years. When it released as part of The Orange Box, it didn’t even factor into the purchasing decisions of gamers who just wanted the Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 content. However, once people started playing the now revered first person puzzle-platformer it quickly grew into one of the most popular bite-sized IPs of this console generation.

How do you take a game that so pleasantly surprised the gaming community at large and make a sequel with the same impact, now that it’s a known quantity? That’s the quandary that Valve’s Erik Johnson shared with us in a hands-off demonstration this week. The answers he gave to that question turned Portal 2 into my personal choice for best game of E3.

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Robert Hewson shares some details on the upcoming XBLA title Hydrophobia.

Stay tuned to Gamer Limit for further information on Hydrophobia.

The resurgence of cooperative play makes me immensely satisfied; the number of people I know who like to play games, but don’t own consoles themselves, is still pretty high, and quite a few aren’t all that interested in playing one-on-one versus or even in larger battles. But lately, even cooperative play has begun to get a little stale. We’ve seen so many games include cooperative play as a sort of formality that some gamers have suggested that games are suffering from it.

F.E.A.R. 3 (which I shall forever refuse to write as F.3.A.R aside from this current self-contradiction) is a game built around the potential of gamers playing together, whether they are cooperating or, in some cases, failing to do so. I was present for a F.E.A.R. 3 presentation by WB Games, and based on what I saw, the game could offer one of the better cooperative gameplay experiences this year.

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Check out this interview between Chase Cook and the developers behind the highly anticipated XBLA title LIMBO.

Be sure to check out Chase’s impressions of the game over yonder.

Madden NFL 11 sets out to not only improve gameplay but redefine it as well. The idea of changing a play-calling system that has been almost unchanged for an entire decade is a bold move. Because of this, many Madden enthusiasts have voiced their concern as the impact to gameplay is enormous if not implemented correctly.

After getting a couple of hours with the game, questions have been answered and concerns have been alleviated. In all honesty, it is more than apparent that EA Tiburon has looked at GameFlow from every single angle possible and fine tuned it perfectly. While this isn’t a feature everyone will use, the fact that it is there and can be used whenever you want is exactly how it should have been implemented. This, along with changes to kicking mechanics, Locomotion, and the addition of Team Play may provide more than enough to make this year’s Madden the best one yet. Read more… »

I’ll tell you right now – I’m a Metal Head. When it comes to shrieking vocals, heavy guitar, and mythological album art, I’m your go-to guy; so as you can imagine, I was super excited to see Guitar Hero [6]: Warriors of Rock in action. What I saw was a demonstration that would make the Gods of Rock cry.

As Comic Book Guy would have said most appropriately at a video game tradeshow: worst…presentation…ever. Read more… »